Classified: The Origin of Baccarat

Baccarat is probably the most exclusive game in the casinos. It's the game of the highest high-rollers. Just imagine tuxedoes, velvet dresses, and the clank of chips in an exclusive suite for millionaires, even billionaires. You can't become a gambling celebrity if you haven't played baccarat at least once. Just the Bond-ness glamour of it. But what makes baccarat such a necessity for the rich and famouses? Has it always been the game of elites? How did it develop into the poshest gambling game there is? Unfortunately, we could only find very few answers taking a look at its history, specifically if we try to focus on the origins of Baccarat, which is far from crystal clarity.

The origin of Baccarat (pronounced bac-car-ah), though unexpected, could be traced nearer the lowly lives of peasants and gypsies. Very far removed from its classiness of today.

One legend tells that the origin of Baccarat extends long ago in the days of paganism. More eerie is that it said to have been based on a non-Christian ritual of the Etruscans, a hallowed ritual that determined the fate of one virgin maiden. The story goes that nine gods meditated upon the maiden's worthiness to take her place as a priestess intervening to the humans for the nine gods. To determine the maiden's worth, she would have to lay the decision to the throwing of a die.

The die had nine sides (probably nine sides for the nine gods) 5 sides of which are considered unlucky. The rule was that if the die turned up 9 or 8, then the maiden passes the test and becomes the temple priestess. If the die turned up 7 or 6, she doesn't become a priestess and becomes exiled further from any worship rituals. She still is fairly lucky though as she would not be faced with death - unlike the condition that if she pulled a 5 and below, then she would have to walk down to the sea and drown herself to death. Such myth is said to be the basis or the origin of baccarat rules. What about the queer inventor and his story?

It isn't very well known how the origin of Baccarat and the story of its maker made its way to its French and world recognition. There appears to be two contested creators of the game, but both stories are accepted to be situated in Italy, and had some eeriness attached to it. The first man is named Lino Bussoli, a greedy money lender devising ways to earn more money by hosting his innovative invented gambling games like baccarat. The man was described to have had a crooked nose and ears that have been punishly cut by a local soldier.

And then there is the recluse Italian gambler Felix Falguierein. He too was a sinister figure to the origin of Baccarat. He was said to have been first to play the game using - tarot cards.

Too much for the posh game eh? On the other hand these stories may have contributed to the thrill-ness of the game, much more if it's told on the table.